The Black Swordsman and The Scarlet Bolt (On Hold)

~11~

"Reina" Kirito shouts and runs after the girl. "Oh, what the hell." Klein gulps and runs after his friends. Reina leaps into the air, activates a sword skill, and deals multiple blows to Gleam Eyes' back. Gleam Eyes removes his focus from the player in front of him and turns to Reina. The girl gasps and uses her sword to block its attack. She spins around with her eyes closed and when she opens them again she gasps when Gleam Eyes punches her sending her rolling away. Reina looks up and sees Gleam Eyes above her ready to attack but Kirito steps in and flips his sword so that the blade faces behind him. He dragged his sword against Gleam Eyes' so that it missed Reina by a couple of inches. "Get out!" Kirito tells her and she nods jumping out of the way. "I got you, buddy." Klein tells one of the players as he and his guild members helped them out.

The Gleam Eyes tries shooting an energy beam at them but Kirito slashes its back making it stop. The floor boss turns its attention to Kirito and the two of them engage in battle with both of them dealing damage to one another. Kirito blocks an attack from the Gleam Eyes and struggles to keep its blade from him. "Get out of there!" Reina tells him. "Kirito!" Klein shouts. Kirito pushes the blade back and narrowly dodges the next attack. Kirito looks over at both Klein and Reina who stare at him with worried looks. The boss attacks the other players, causing Kirito's eyes to widen. Gleam Eyes tries attacking Kirito and the boy narrowly deflects it with his sword. "Hey Klein! Reina! Listen! I need ten seconds, keep him off me!" Kirito instructs the two and leaps back to avoid an attack. "Yeah, you got it!" Klein replies and both he and Reina charge at the boss.

Klein blocks some of the attacks and gets thrown to the side and Reina dodges another one. "Okay, I'm ready!" Kirito informs. Reina nods and dodges the Gleam Eyes' attacks by jumping side to side and down some flips. She leaps into the air so that she is face to face with Gleam Eyes, lets out a battle cry, and activates her skill 'Crimson Blade Dance.' She then delivers five hits knocking the boss back. Kirito stares at her amazed and when she lands she looks back at Kirito. "Switch!" She calls and Kirito runs ahead of her, letting out a battle cry and grazes his sword against Gleam Eyes'. He equips another sword and lets out a cry pushing Gleam Eyes and Reina and Klein stare at him with wide eyes, seeing him wielding two swords. Gleam Eyes tries striking Kirito with his blade but the boy blocks it with both of his swords.

He pushes Gleam Eyes' blade away with his eye closed. "Starburst Stream!" Kirito slashes at Gleam Eyes' stomach not giving it time to recover. "What the hell kind of skill is that?" Klein asks, in shock. "How am I supposed to know? I wasn't with him when he got it." Reina replies also in shock. Kirito gets thrown off by Gleam Eyes but she recovers and slashes its stomach again. Gleam Eyes knocks Kirito's swords from his hands but he grabs them again and delivers more blows to its stomach. The boss punches Kirito in the face and he quickly recovers, increasing the speed of his strikes. The Gleam Eyes grabs one of his swords and tries to attack him. Everyone stares in anticipation as the boy drives his remaining sword through the boss' chest, delivering the finishing blow, and making the boss burst into polygons. "Is it over?" Kirito asks, breathless from the entire fight.

A congratulations banner appears above him and he stumbles back staring at it before looking at his health, which was almost gone, before passing out from exhaustion. "Kirito!" Reina calls and runs towards him with Klein in tow. She kneels beside him and looks down at him. "Kirito! Wake up!" She shouts, feeling tears well up in her eyes. Kirito opens his eyes and Reina stares down at him with teary eyes. When she sees this she gasps and struggles to keep her tears at bay. Kirito sits up, placing a hand on his head. "Oh man, my head." He groans and looks around seeing the players around him. "That was too close. How long was I out for?" Kirito asks Reina who was wiping her tears and sniffling. "A few seconds." She whimpers before throwing herself at him. "You reckless idiot!" She cries into his shoulder. Kirito gasps and smiles. "Jeez, don't hug me so hard. I'll lose the last of my HP." He jokes.